John Dawson (musician)
| John Dawson | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | John Collins Dawson IV |
| Also known as | Marmaduke |
| Born |
June 16, 1945 Chicago, Illinois |
| Origin | San Francisco, California, U.S.A. |
| Died | July 21, 2009 (aged 64) San Miguel de Allende, Mexico |
| Genres | Country rock |
| Instruments |
|
| Years active | 1964–1997 |
| Associated acts | New Riders of the Purple Sage |
John Collins Dawson IV (June 16, 1945 – July 21, 2009), nicknamed "Marmaduke", was an American musician, singer, and songwriter. He was best known as the leader and co-founder of the country rock band the New Riders of the Purple Sage.
John Dawson was born in Chicago. His family moved to California in 1952. The son of a Los Altos Hills, California filmmaker, he took guitar lessons from a teacher and friend from the Peninsula School in Menlo Park, California. For high school he attended the Millbrook School near Millbrook, New York. While at Millbrook, he took courses in music theory & history and sang in the glee club.
After a stint at Occidental College, Dawson's musical career began in the mid-1960s folk music scene in the San Francisco Bay Area. There he met fellow guitarist David Nelson, and was part of the rotating lineup of Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions, a jug band that included Jerry Garcia and several other future members of the Grateful Dead. Dawson was also heavily influenced by the Bakersfield sound genre of country music.
By 1969, Dawson had written a number of country rock songs, and Garcia had become interested in playing pedal steel guitar. Joined by Nelson, they formed the New Riders of the Purple Sage. The New Riders became the opening act for the Grateful Dead, and their original lineup included three Grateful Dead members — Garcia on pedal steel, Phil Lesh on bass, and Mickey Hart on drums. Within a year, Dave Torbert replaced Lesh and Spencer Dryden replaced Hart in the New Riders lineup, with Garcia continuing to play in both bands. In 1970 and 1971, the New Riders and the Grateful Dead performed many concerts together. In November 1971, Buddy Cage replaced Jerry Garcia as the New Riders' pedal steel player, allowing NRPS to tour independently of the Dead.
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